Leonard tabbed Conference USA Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday

Courtesy: UTSA AthleticsRelease: 07/09/2014

Courtesy UTSA Athletics

RELATED LINKS

IRVING — Conference USA announced Wednesday its 2013-14 Scholar-Athletes of the Year and Roadrunners Academic All-American Nate Leonard was the recipient for football.

Leonard, who was added to the Dave Rimington Trophy (nation's top center) watch list on Tuesday, maintains a 3.99 GPA in physical education. The only player in program history to start all 34 games was named a second-team Capital One Academic All-American last season (first football player to be named an Academic All-American) and he is a two-time first-team Academic All-District VII honoree.

The 6-foot, 280-pound native of McKinney is coming off a junior campaign that saw him record a team-leading 70 knockdown blocks, including a career-high 10 against Rice (Oct. 12). He also graded out at 82 percent and was a key part of an offensive line that did not commit a holding penalty. His blocking helped the UTSA offense average 25.6 points, 417.8 total yards (175.4 rush/242.4 pass), 21.9 first downs and 32:24 possession time per contest.

The C-USA Scholar-Athletes of the Year are presented to the top student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport and it is based on academics (GPA) and athletics achievement, as well as service. Scholar-athletes were selected from the league's full-time and affiliate institutions in 20 sports (combining indoor and outdoor track & field) and they are determined by the league's faculty athletics representatives.